It is known to provide certain cosmetics such as nail varnish in small sample, promotional or demonstration units sometimes referred to as trial-use packages. Such units may be sent to potential customers through the post, as sample or promotional material, or may be used by demonstrators in department stores, for example, to demonstrate to potential customers the use of a particular cosmetic material. They may also be sold to the end customer.
In the case of demonstrations, it is important that there should be no unhygienic use of the cosmetic material as a result of a number of different potential customers having the cosmetic demonstrated to them. For example, if it were desired to demonstrate on a potential customer the use of a mascara then it would be important for hygienic reasons to ensure that the same applicator for the mascara was not used on more than one customer or even that different applicators used on different customers did not come into contact with the same mascara. There is legislation in some countries to prevent this.
It is known to mould containers from plastics material. It is also known to mould articles from plastics material in which those articles are formed on the branches of a so-called "tree" in the moulding process. Such articles would then be separated from the branches of the "tree", the latter constituting waste or scrap plastic material.
The present invention is concerned. with providing an economical method of manufacturing containers, particularly cosmetic containers, and applicators which will also provide a means for overcoming the hygiene problem outlined above when cosmetics are being demonstrated and will also provide a convenient unit for promotional and/or sampling purposes.